Before the teacher could protest, he continued:
"Ye'll find me an ignoramus, schoolma'am. A fellow out on the range, or in a minin' camp, don't git much schoolin'. But sometimes when ye're alone under the open sky, an' the stars come out, there's somethin' in here" (striking himself on the chest) "that is—is—unsatisfied. I want somethin'. I don't know what it is I want, but I believe you can help me find out."
Let those scoff who will; there is such a thing as divine unrest; and when this takes possession of a man, his evolution has begun.
John Harding went on with increasing earnestness.
"Yer see, schoolma'am, this not knowin' is awful. Y're not all a man should measure up to. Y're in prison like, hide bound. It's come ter me ter-night, all ter onct, that an ignoramus is in bondage, an' that only education can set him free."
The tide of his feeling gave him a rough eloquence. It was evident his words found a responsive echo in the other cowboys' hearts.
The teacher had listened with deepening interest. John Harding had set her a task,—the greatest task, nay, the greatest pleasure man or woman can know, of leading a human soul out of bondage into freedom.
One of the cowboys, Jimmie Smith by name, nudged Mike Maloney, and whispered:
"Ask her to learn us, too."
Mike readily assented.